Inquiry Into School Incident

Sexual Act Draws Police Investigation

NEW BRITAIN — Local police said Friday that they are investigating an incident in which two Pulaski Middle School students engaged in a sexual act during class.

Also on Friday, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Ron Jakubowski confirmed that the sex act occurred Monday, and that the students were disciplined Wednesday - the same day administrators learned of the incident. The students are also receiving supportive services from the school district.

Police began their investigation Friday after reading about the incident in The Courant.

"We went to the school as soon as we heard about it," said Sgt. Tracy Baden of the department's police youth bureau.

No charges had been filed as of Friday.

The students, who sources said are in the eighth grade, were in a classroom with other students and a substitute teacher Monday when the incident occurred. Another student recorded the incident with a phone camera.

Pulaski Principal Vonetta Romeo-Rivers declined, through a school secretary, to comment.

Jakubowski, citing privacy laws, declined Friday to say how the students were disciplined, but said they were both disciplined equally. He also said that he didn't know the substitute teacher's name, but that the teacher will not return to the school district for "failure to properly supervise a class."

The teacher is not employed by the school district, but was hired through Kelly Services Inc., a staffing agency based in Troy, Mich.

Jim McIntire, vice president for public affairs at Kelly Services, said the company has suspended the teacher without pay pending the outcome of its investigation.

"Until it's complete, we really have no additional comment at this time," McIntire said Friday afternoon.

Annette Velez has a daughter who attends Pulaski but was not in the classroom where the incident took place. Velez declined to identify her daughter, but said her daughter's knowledge of the incident prompted her to ask for the first time about oral sex.

"I took a deep breath and was like, 'Oh boy, here we go,' but I was honest with her," Velez said. "I'd rather tell her than anybody else tell her or explain it to her the wrong way."

Velez, who is concerned that her daughter may come into contact with the disciplined students during an overnight trip to Washington, D.C., next month, said she kept the conversation "simple, but truthful."

She recalled telling her daughter "that it should be something that's done between two committed adults and that it should be done in private."